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Appointments at Lerwick health centre


peerielipper
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tri·age (tr-äzh, träzh)

n.

1. A process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated.

 

 

 

 

 

Have we really descended so far?

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Phoned on Tuesday at 8.30am, receptionist said it was a triage system today and a doctor would phone me back within 30minutes, which he did. Explained my symptoms and was given an appointment at 12pm.

 

I've never had any problems getting appointments at the health centre but understand this is not everyone's experience. What I did notice from the visit was the receptionist didn't ask for my sysmptoms, which is a step forward in my opinion.

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I did phone lately and was told that it was a walk in clinic and that there could be a long wait due to doctor shortage. Asked if I could make an appointment as it was non-urgent, but they couldn't give a pre-booked appointment until April!

When I have used (or been subjected to!) the triage system, it has worked in that the doctor usually phones back relatively quickly and you do usually get an appointment the same day. However this system is no use if you are going out to work or whatever and can't hang around waiting for a phone call. If you're at work or whatever, you also really don't want to be discussing your problem where other people can hear, so I feel that it's only a good system if you are able to wait at home for the call.

I also really objected to having to give receptionists details of the problem, although last time I phoned I was simply asked if it was urgent or non-urgent, so hopefully they have stopped that practice.

However my main bugbear with the Lerwick Health Centre is actually getting through in the first place. I have tried phoning from 8.30 onwards when it's supposed to be open, only to get a recorded message say that it isn't open so they're either late or haven't switched over from the night service. I also feel that the phone rings too long before you get the message to say you're in the queue. I noticed that the phone rang for over a minute last time before I got that message - thought it was good practice for all calls to be answered within four rings? And I seem to remember that one day I was on hold for 35 mins before I got to the front of the queue. I can see how people end up giving up! It really is a poor service.

(By the way - I'm not a hypochondriac! I just have bairns that seem to keep getting things that require attention - I haven't been to the doctor for years)

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I can appreciate this system helps get the priority patients seen first, and reduces timewasters, and has significantly improved wait time.

 

However it's a bit archaic - you wait anything from 5 to 30 mins in a phone queue just to wait for a receptionist to take a message. How about voicemail here? You get nice voicemail software that integrates with phone systems showing lists with caller ID and click to listen to make sure they're dealt with (rather than BT's 1571 offering...).

 

Another alternative is to let people email in a message for doctor to phone or reply back sensitively.

 

These options could save staff time and make it easier for the patient.

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Did i imagine this or did I see an article printed out and pinned up on the wall, just to the left of the reception, that basically claimed there was a real medical/psychological reason for the... er... shall we say 'brusqueness' of the receptionists? I only glanced at it, so it may of been some joke that i was missing, but it looked to be some sort of justification for rude behaviour... anyone else see this?

 

To be be fair the staff there were actually quite helpful and polite at the time, which confused me even more...

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The staff are always brilliant.

more than i can say for some of the doctors.

the place has been given a technical revamp but nothing else to warrant it.

Thousands , possibly millions and still the place is a shambles.

I remember not long ago i could say i have time next week can i have an appointment on that day.

Answer. OK or no but how about another day or time.

Now you have to phone and sit by the phone waiting for an answer that might never come.

You can't do that if you are at work.

What's wrong with ...I want an appointment and i am free on this day. Do you have one available.

The dentist work that way and so do the vets.

Rant over...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Its a shambles and disgrace. Anyone that has good experience trying to speak to a doctor is very lucky indeed.

Receptionists having to know things that should be confidential between patient and doctor before they fob you off for another day because they are too busy. "Call back at 0830 tomorrow and you'll definitely get to speak to a doc", only to be told next day that "appointments all gone by 0827". 2 weeks have passed since a specific Dr requested to see me and though have phoned daily have yet to get past the first hurdle.

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if you have been trying to see a doctor for two weeks complain. a receptionst is not trained to triage. just because the patient may think its minor it could well not be. take cancer an early spotting of it will improve the chances of recovery. the older generation tend to not want to bother the doctor over quite serious problems. so being put off is not safe.

 

if there system is that bad then they need to change it.

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The system is a complete joke.

My partner had to go to Aberdeen and a letter was sent to the health centre of her condition and suitable medication.She received a prescription the following day all very good and for the next week carried on with the medication and upping it every 2 days only to find out due to feeling terrible that there had been a mistake and she was to up it every 2 weeks and had to stop taking it.

She has tried to speak to a doctor for the past week only to be told there was no doctors phone appointments available so she contacted Aberdeen who thus contacted Lerwick and that was when she finally received a phonecall from an irrate doctor for going about it in this way. Im actually quite angry about this at the moment and can see that I am not alone in my thinking on the current system.

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The system is a complete joke.

My partner had to go to Aberdeen and a letter was sent to the health centre of her condition and suitable medication.She received a prescription the following day all very good and for the next week carried on with the medication and upping it every 2 days only to find out due to feeling terrible that there had been a mistake and she was to up it every 2 weeks and had to stop taking it.

She has tried to speak to a doctor for the past week only to be told there was no doctors phone appointments available so she contacted Aberdeen who thus contacted Lerwick and that was when she finally received a phonecall from an irrate doctor for going about it in this way. Im actually quite angry about this at the moment and can see that I am not alone in my thinking on the current system.

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I am sickened by the damage that these extremely well paid 'penpushers' have done to our health service in general. Dentistry is back in the news because of difficulty in accessing regular appointments. It seems that the management at Brevik House do not listen to those 'at the coal face' and lurch from one ridiculous strategy to another. Who monitors their performance? It seems to me that their main skills are in creating waffle and spin to cover up a catalogue of errors and poor decisions. I just hope that nobody is fooled by it.

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